WGXC-90.7 FM

Media coverage favors Schreibman

Jun 25, 2012 12:05 am
Coverage of the Julian Schreibman/Joel Tyner Congressional primary election for NY District 19 seems to favor Schreibman, a WGXC comparison reveals. The election is Tues., June 26, and the winner faces Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook) on Nov. 6. None of local press, including WGXC, did a thorough compare/contrast piece showing the differences between the candidates (UPDATE: The Daily Freeman ran that story today), and most coverage beyond interviews with the candidates focused on unimportant non-issues, such as endorsements. Using Google search results, here is a comparison of the coverage of both campaigns from media in the WGXC listening area.

Albany Times-Union
COVERAGE VERY THOROUGH
The Times-Union did "Meet the Candidate" interviews with both Tyner and Schreibman, and the "Capitol Confidential" blog had many items about the campaign and the candidates. The Times-Union was lone among the local media in fairly covering the campaign finances of both campaigns. While others only reported about the resignation of Tyner's campaign treasurer, and/or Schreibman's out-of-town donations, the Times-Union also reported that much of Tyner's campaign contributions came as works of art for a fundraising auction. Eight months ago, they were already tracking campaign donations. Clearly, the Times-Union had the most thorough coverage.

The Columbia Paper
COVERAGE MINIMAL; ENDORSED SCHREIBMAN
Parry Teasdale wrote one story with quotes from Joel Tyner. "Attempts to reach Mr. Schreibman this week for comment were unsuccessful." Teasdale thanked Schreibman for not getting in touch by endorsing his campaign.

The Daily Freeman
COVERAGE VERY THOROUGH
The Daily Freeman has many stories about the campaign, interviews with the candidates, a demographic look at the new district, and they livestreamed a debate between the two candidates (and let WGXC put it on FM radio and the Albany Times-Union on their website). The Freeman covered Tyner's campaign treasurer's resignation, but not Schreibman's lack of local contributions.

The Daily Mail/Register Star
COVERAGE MINIMAL
Nathan Mayberg wrote one story with quotes from both candidates.

SamPratt.com
COVERAGE FAVORS TYNER; ENDORSED TYNER
Pratt, an activist not a reporter, only looked at Schreibman's campaign finances, ignoring almost completely Tyner's campaign donations. Then he proves he is not a journalist writing, "I'll be doing a similar report on Gibson's finances in the near future." Tyner's donations do not receive the same scrutiny.

WAMC
COVERAGE FAVORS SCHREIBMAN
Type in "Joel Tyner" into the search bar at WAMC's website, and you get many links to stories about Tyner's campaign treasurer's resignation. They printed zero stories, though, about the other campaign finance story in this election: the fact that nearly all of Schreibman's contributions come from out of the district. WAMC's Alan Chartock interviewed Schreibman but not Tyner, and Schreibman got a two-part, two-day interview. CORRECTION: Typing in "Joel Tyner" today in the search bar at WAMC's web site, a two-part Tyner interview from Jan. 17 appears. (Previously, the same search did not reveal that interview.) At that point in the campaign, Tyner was the only announced Democrat candidate.

Watershed Post
COVERAGE FAVORS SCHREIBMAN
This Catskills-centric blog interviewed Schreibman with the headline, "Julian Schreibman looks past primary to a showdown with Gibson," and did not interview Tyner, but ran this headline: "Joel Tyner campaign embroiled in drama."

WGXC
WGXC did roughly 30-minute interviews with both Schriebman and Tyner, and aired them several times. The community radio station also aired The Daily Freeman's livestream of debate live, and replayed that several times. Minimal coverage of both financial issues.